Contentment

By Trish Ryan

I've been thinking about contentment today. There's nothing like diving back into my normal routine after a long break to reveal the areas in life where things are humming along smoothly...and the places where I feel like I've got a square peg I must cram into a round hole.

Life is like that, I've discovered. (I know...you knew this already. I'm not so much pronouncing a grand discovery as admitting, "Hey, look - I finally caught on!") There's this tension between the things that are "just as they should be" and those that are missing, damaged, or flat-out unworkable. But the tension isn't constant...it moves.

Today I discovered that one of the areas in which I've long felt despair (household chores & errands) is actually something I feel great about now. No idea why. Nothing has changed - same dust, same laundry, same dirty dishes. But for whatever reason, this area of life is bringing me contentment. I'll take it.

And yet at the same time there are all these question marks floating in the air around me: things that fall into the "All I can do is wait & see" category. When you see those flying question marks, don't you just want to swat them down out of the air like flies? Or (if you're of a gentler nature) capture them in a jar so you can watch them closely and see what happens next? Sigh. All I can do is let them buzz and wonder: when will they land? What will they tell me? In these areas, contentment is hard to come by. I have to go after it and decide to trust, believe, have faith, not freak out or give up or (worst of all) try to make something happen. I have years of proof that God does have a plan and works things out rather splendidly, albeit rarely on my timetable. Going after contentment is my best bet to stay busy, happy, productive...and out of God's way.

I've been studying these definitions of character qualities. "Contentment" is defined as: "Realizing that God has provided everything that I need for my present happiness." I like this. It gives permission to be happy with what today offers, while at the same time hoping that in some ways, at least, things won't be like this much longer.

I have laundry to fold, so I'll leave it at that. Think of where you're feeling contentment today. Focus on that. Let it expand in your mind and fill you with the sense of God's grace in that area. Eventually, we'll catch on and see: He's got more where this came from :)